After finishing his trip to Geneva, Simon flew to Florence, where Gucci is headquartered, the next day.
Sofia hopes that Simon can appear in the Gucci documentary. Throughout the whole day on the 24th, Simon was followed by cameras and wandered around every corner of Florence with the new Gucci creative director Tom Ford. Ford's September 1990 Gucci spring/summer fashion collection will draw inspiration from the world's oldest cultural and artistic center.
As the host, the Gucci family specially prepared a reception banquet for Simon at the family's suburban manor in the evening.
To be precise, it was Aldo Gucci, the second-generation eldest son of Gucci, who invited Simon.
Two of the three sons of Gucci founder Guccio Gucci have passed away. Only the eldest, Aldo, is still alive. He is the one who was reported to and sent to prison by his nephew for tax evasion a few years ago.
In the last equity transaction, some members of the Gucci family immigrated overseas for tax avoidance reasons. Only Aldo Gucci’s second and third sons remained in Italy. Aldo’s eldest son also had a feud with his father and had been in conflict with his father for many years. Lives in New York.
All kinds of twists and turns over the years have caused the Gucci family to lose all its glory in Italy, but after all, it still has some heritage, especially this time the guest is Simon Westero, a new world-class wealth upstart and a Hollywood tycoon. Therefore, for the first time in so many years, the Gucci family was once again full of guests and friends. Many Italian political and business celebrities attended, and it also attracted a large number of local Italian entertainment people who came to Simon.
Even though Aldo Gucci, who insisted on not wanting to sell the family company, still firmly holds 20% of Gucci's shares, his attitude towards Simon has changed a lot because of this dinner that brought the Gucci family back to glory.
Because there was no language barrier, Simon was able to socialize among the banquet crowds with ease until 10 o'clock in the night, and then he said goodbye and left.
Aldo Gucci, who is 83 years old, still did not rest. He personally took his two sons and a large group of celebrities to send Simon and Sofia out of the Gucci family manor.
In the car, watching the brightly lit manor of the Gucci family disappear from sight, Sofia said: "Now, it will be even more difficult for us to acquire the remaining shares of the Gucci family."
Simon naturally understood what Sophia meant.
For months, Gucci’s recovery has been evident.
If Gucci continues to maintain its previous state of decline for a few years, the Gucci family will definitely sell off all its shares. But now, even the most incompetent children of the Gucci family understand that holding on to the shares in their hands and relying on the big tree of Simon Westeros is the long-term solution.
"It is impossible for us to capture all the interests. It is enough to have the absolute controlling stake in Gucci. After Gucci's operations are stable, we can just turn our resources and energy to other luxury brands," Simon said, then smiled: "And, the Gucci family This time I may have borrowed some of my fame, but again, if we achieve 100% control of Gucci, the Gucci family will definitely not be so attentive. When we go to Italy, we will only sit like an outsider with black eyes. They’re on the bench. So, this borrowing is mutual.”
Sofia nodded in approval.
Simon was just socializing at the party just now, but she actually got to know a lot of local people who might be helpful to Gucci's operations in the future.
Thinking of this, Sofia was about to talk about the incident in Cannes again when the car suddenly slowed down and finally stopped.
Simon looked at the front row in confusion and asked, "Neal, what's wrong?"
Before Neil Bennett could speak, someone knocked on the car window several times.
Simon looked out warily, but saw a woman's face looming out of the window. After identifying the woman's identity, he rolled down the window and asked, "Miss Freily, why are you here?"
The woman's name is Sabina Forelli and she is an actress.
At the previous party at Gucci's house, Sabina Forelli took the initiative to chat with Simon several times and even left her business card. Simon barely remembered the other person's name.
The car window rolled down and when she heard Simon's inquiry, Sabina Forelli showed a pitiful expression and said: "Mr. Westeros, my car broke down, can you give me a lift?"
Sabina Forelli said, pointing to a black car with smoke coming from the hood on the side of the road.
Simon looked at the car in the car lights for a few times, feeling a little dumbfounded.
I didn't expect to encounter such a clichéd trick. Moreover, looking at the smoke coming out of the car, this woman really did it. The car was definitely broken down and might even have been scrapped.
This is the southern suburbs of Florence where various mansions and estates gather. Simon's estate in this city is also not far away, less than five kilometers away by car.
After all, it was impossible to leave a young woman in the suburbs, so Simon had no choice but to open the car door and let Sabina Forelli sit in, squeezing into the back row with him and Sofia.
In the front row are two bodyguards.
It is well known that kidnapping cases are rampant in Italy. When Simon was still in Los Angeles, he heard that he was going to Italy, and many people around him advised him to bring more followers. Therefore, I specially brought four bodyguards with me on this trip to Europe. Jennifer did not come with her tonight, and Simon left two bodyguards at his manor.
With the addition of an outsider, Simon and Sophia stopped their previous conversation.
Sabina Forelli seemed very talkative, her hot body in thin clothes was unabashedly attached to Simon's body, and she asked all kinds of things about Hollywood. She also specifically expressed her hope that Valerie Golino could star in " The envy of Catwoman in "Batman" and boldly asked Simon if he could take her to Hollywood for development.
Because they were not far apart, Simon's car quickly drove into another manor in the southern suburbs of Florence.
Compared with other residences in Europe, the most satisfying thing about this manor in the southern suburbs of Florence is that it has a stone wall more than two meters high. The overall wall of more than 600 meters surrounds the entire five-acre manor. When Simon first saw the information about this manor, although the Italian-style villa in the manor didn't quite fit Simon's aesthetics, he bought it without hesitation because of the wall.
When everyone got out of the car, Simon, who was already smelling of perfume from the hot beauty Sabina Forelli, asked: "Miss Forelli, where do you live? I'll ask the driver to take you back."
Sabina Forelli unabashedly got involved again, holding Simon's arm and begging: "Simon, can I stay here for one night? I have been staying in the hotel for the past two days, and I always feel like someone is following me. .”
Seeing Simon being entangled, Sofia blinked at him and walked towards the villa with a smile on her lips.
Simon felt that if he sent this woman away by force, she might cause another mischief, or she might just faint in his arms, so he had no choice but to wave to the two bodyguards and let them go to the annex to rest, taking Sa with him. Together they walked towards the main villa.
In the living room of the villa.
Jennifer hadn't rested yet. When she saw Simon coming in with a tall girl with a hot figure, a resentful expression appeared on her face. Her tone became a bit colder, and she changed her title and said: "Boss, the movie over there in Cannes The festival award results have been released.”
With that said, the female assistant handed a folder to Simon and turned around to walk upstairs.
Simon took the folder, then helplessly reached out to hold the female assistant who was about to leave, and said: "Miss Furley's car broke down. She is just staying here for one night."
Simon held her hand, and hearing him explain to her, the sourness in Jennifer's heart dissipated a bit, and she allowed Simon to lead her and sit down on the sofa in the living room.
Sabina Forelli is obviously a smart person. Seeing the friendly attitude between Simon and Jennifer, the young tycoon obviously pays more attention to each other. She wisely did not move closer to Simon and sat down obediently on the sofa next to her. Seeing Sofia coming to the living room with a pot of coffee, she diligently got up and walked over to take the tray and pour coffee for everyone.
The living room unknowingly once again presented a situation of one man and three women in which yin and yang were declining.
Janet had long said that Simon's personality was like a lion's. Unknowingly, his personality seemed to be more obvious, and even the top management within the company gradually showed a trend of yin and yang declining.
Simon also discovered that although sometimes the women around him were definitely no less thoughtful than the men, he was still more adaptable to this situation.
There is about an hour's time difference between Florence and Cannes, and tonight happens to be the time for the closing ceremony of Cannes. Simon had previously received an official invitation from Cannes to attend the closing ceremony, but chose to refuse.
After dragging his female assistant to sit down in the living room, Simon opened the document containing the Cannes awards results.
Although many of the films in his memory appeared as scheduled, the award results of this film festival were beyond Simon's expectations.
The biggest variable is undoubtedly the Palme d'Or.
The winner of the Palme d'Or in my memory is Steven Soderbergh's "Sex, Lies and Videotape" because the chairman of the jury for this film festival is Wim Wenders. Simon previously felt that this The German film director, whose films always reveal a sense of emptiness and alienation, should be more interested in Soderbergh's film about the confused life of young people at the end of the American Beat Generation.
However.
The actual result is that the winner of this Palme d'Or became Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso".
Come to think of it, Cinema Paradiso is equally eligible for the Palme d'Or, while also being skewed to Wim Wenders' liking. Moreover, digging deeper, Simon realized that this difference in award results should be due to the different publisher of "Sex, Lies and Videotape" from the original time and space.
The original "Sex, Lies and Videotape" was distributed by Miramax, and the Weinstein brothers are well known for their deft PR skills.
Now, the film's distributor has become Columbia Pictures.
Although Columbia Pictures is a few steps ahead of Miramax, which is now a small studio, in this kind of award public relations that requires a lot of effort, the Columbia Pictures team is obviously not as good as those who focus on literature and art in terms of connections and experience. The film also stars the Weinstein brothers, who have been in the European film industry for many years.
However, "Sex, Lies and Videotape" did not go away empty-handed, but won the second-ranked Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
"My Left Foot" only won one Best Actor award.
Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in My Left Foot is absolutely deserving of this award.
From the beginning, Simon had no intention of letting "My Left Foot" win the Palme d'Or. He is also happy to see the current results, especially "Cinema Paradiso" winning the Palme d'Or.
This is not because "Sex, Lies and Videotape" was not selected. The main reason is that the last Palme d'Or was "Pulp Fiction", which is a Hollywood movie. If this time's Palme d'Or is still a Hollywood movie, then the next few In 2016, due to considerations such as balance, the possibility that Hollywood would win the Palme d'Or again was very low.
Although it is difficult for the Cannes Film Festival officials to interfere with the results of the awards, the judges involved in the award selection must also understand that it is definitely not a wise move to continue awarding the Palme d'Or to Hollywood. After all, most of the jury members are usually European filmmakers. If they are too biased, it will be harmful to their own interests.
In addition, Simon's favorite Jane Campion's "Sweet Sister" received nothing.
Jennifer recovered from the jealousy just now, took another script from the coffee table, and said to Simon: "This is what Deutschman sent me in the evening. It's a script for Tornatore's new film called "Family Love". "Journey" tells the story of an old man who traveled all the way to visit his scattered children after retirement. Deutschman said that he had talked to Tornadore twice, but the other party was probably waiting for the results of the Cannes awards, and They did not immediately agree to our invitation to cooperate.”
Sabina Forelli, who had been sitting quietly next to her, just heard that the director of her country had won the Palme d'Or, and her eyes lit up. At this time, seeing the script in Jennifer's hand, there was more emotion in her expression. She does not expect to step into Hollywood like Valerie Golino did with Venice's Best Actress. If she can play a role in an Italian film invested by Daenerys Entertainment, it will be a springboard.
Unfortunately, she didn't know much English and didn't understand Jennifer's words that Daenerys Entertainment had not reached an agreement with Tornatore. She thought Simon would invest in the movie.
Everyone was waiting for a price, and Simon was not surprised.
He had already watched Jane Campion's "Sweet Sister" when he was in Geneva. Although the New Zealand film crew was very enthusiastic, they also did not immediately agree to Daenerys Entertainment's invitation to buy the film. They were obviously waiting for the results of the award.
It is more expected that Giuseppe Tornatore would choose this way.
In fact, due to changes in award results, Simon found that the possibility of Daenerys Entertainment getting "Cinema Paradiso" at a reasonable price has been significantly reduced. Obviously, it has the aura of the Palme d'Or. Even if the Italian original version of this film seems to be very slow and lengthy, with Daenerys Entertainment already bidding, Hollywood studios will definitely not mind competing for it.
In my memory, the North American box office of this film was only about 10 million US dollars. This was the result of the Weinstein brothers' careful operation to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The North American theatrical version of the film was also deleted. Once the bidding war begins, Daenerys won't be able to make much profit even if she gets the movie by force.
Now, it is obviously impossible for the Weinstein brothers to reach out to this movie again. They do not have the power. But when the film fell into the hands of other Hollywood studios, the outcome was unpredictable.
Just like Luc Besson's Cannes opening film "Blue Sea and Blue Sky" last year, Simon liked this film very much. If Daenerys' entertainment power was not strong enough at the time, he would definitely buy the North American distribution of this film. right.
After its premiere in Cannes, "Blue Sea and Blue Sky" also achieved a record box office in France.
However, due to strategic errors by Hollywood distributors, the film only grossed a meager $3 million at the box office in North America.
Many times, if a film wants to achieve commercial success, a proper promotion strategy is even more important than the quality of the film itself.